All these are purely theoretical. They're your link from your phone to the tower under optimal conditions and from there, it depends on what the backhaul is like and how much load is on the tower.

Also HSPA has been called both 3G and 4G. The ITU changed their definitions of what 4G is, thus HSPA now qualifies. It was noticeable here. The ads suddenly switched from advertizing the "3G+" network to advertizing the "4G" network.

I usually get speeds of 8ish mbps which is plenty on my HSPA network. Either way, 4G is theoretically "Anywhere from 10mbps to 100 mbps" so that's kindof a shoddy excuse. the real issue are the bands - It boggles the mind why it's not a global standard.

It's really not that large in the hand. The other thing that hasn't been mentioned about the Note II? The amazing battery life. I make/receive 80~90 phone calls every day, constantly use the GPS, bluetooth (car kit) and Exchange Mail (Mobile Data) and the phone lasts me two days.

Well I would wait after CES in early January because Samsung will most likely be reveling their new devices then. While I can't talk about EU carriers, I do know about the phones. I faced the same dilemma about apps when getting my S3 (which I love), but since most of what I wanted carried over was music (which is free), I've managed to keep my app fees down. Also since android allows side loading apps, you can just go on the internet and download the apk for free and not feel bad since you've already paid for it on ios. When it comes to specifically which phone to get, I would go on to YouTube and type in S3 vs Note 2 (or whatever phones you want compared) dogfight and you will find many videos by people who are paid to compare phones.

Also, I would consider the Nexus 4 from Google. Being in the EU you won't need to worry about the lack of LTE, however the fact that it only goes up to 16gb of storage with no expandable memory is a definite downside. The upside to this phone is that it has stock android (if you care), will get immediate software updates, and only costs $300-$350 (sorry that's in US dollars ), off contract which makes it a good choice if you don't want to be stuck with a phone/carrier for two years.